I am not a dedicated raider, but I love raiding. Since I can never commit to the raiding schedules that guilds require of their raiders, I am in a constant state of pugging. When I'm not actively in a pug, I am scanning the trade channel looking for one that will have all the qualities required to be successful- gear, experience, patience, and maybe a little bit of luck. When I find such a group, I'm ecstatic. But more often than not, I face group after group of impatient, inexperienced, and under geared scrubs who simply want to be carried to the final boss so they can get their [EPIC LOOT] Those groups often end in a way that everyone who has ever pugged is familiar with- people getting frustrated and leaving. But every now and then, there is a group that fails so bad, the fail is almost a win, in and of itself, for being such a unique level of fail.

Monday, July 25, 2011

Really, guys, really?
In reality, we do play. There's a lot of us who play and we're pretty decent, too. We just don't tell you that we play. There's a reason, too. Lots of reasons, actually.

Why don't you get back in the kitchen?

Where's mah sammich?!

Well, yeah. you're a girl, but you must be some hideous beast living in your parents basement.

You're not really a girl- you're just some creep using voice changing software.

Tits or gtfo!

Where do you live?

How big are your tits?

Do you have a boyfriend?

*heavy mouth breathing*

Do any of those sound familiar?

We don't tell you boys we're girls because when we do we get bombarded by the above. We don't get it from all of you, probably not even from a majority. But the ones who do say that crap are so annoying that it sticks.
Like this guy:

Just makes you think.... wtf?

Thank goodness, that cretin was kicked out of the guild like... less than an hour later.

Imo, you guys take the whole "anonymity on the internet" thing way too seriously. Just because you're behind a screen doesn't mean that behaving like an asshole is acceptable. Some of the things you boys say... if you were really so stupid as to say them in real life to a girl, do you think that your jackassery is somehow going to make her like you?

Seriously?

Hell. The shit you guys say to try and be funny isn't even something close knit groups say to each other, much less random strangers.

Yes. It's creepy.

It's not funny. It's not ironic. It's not even vaguely entertaining. Highlighting the fact that you are a total social imbecile isn't even vaguely humorous. It's sad, pathetic, annoying, and yes- creepy.

So the next time you get pugged with a girl, or discover that one of your guildmates is female, reign in your immaturity, resist the urge to ask for naked pictures, and just say hello. You'll get a lot further being polite than being creepy.

Stats for Threat
Hit capped at 8%, Expertise soft capped at 26. Then stack stamina over strength because not only does more Stamina mean more life, it means a higher top-end for Vengeance. Note: This is only for threat, mitigation should be the first thing you look at.

Hit <> Expertise <> Stamina <> Strength

Stats for Avoidance/Mitigation
With there being no real issue with threat at the moment, avoidance and mitigation to the 102.4% block cap is now the new recommended function. Do not reforge your mastery into hit even if you are not hit capped, you only need 2% hit. The above is a fast and dirty representation of the stat weighting, but there is really much to it.

What “combat table coverage” means is that there is a base chance mobs can hit you. If you get your total avoidance/mitigation up to 102.4% “normal hit” drops off of the table meaning the only thing a physical attack can do is be dodged, parried, or blocked, in that order. So if your stats are 20% dodge, 20% parry, and 40% block your percentage would be: 20 + 20 + 40 + 5 = 85% This leaves a 17.4% chance that a mob will get a “normal hit” on you with no reduced damage other than what you get from your armor and talents. This also means that if you have 112.4% avoidance you are wasting stats because the block cap stops at 102.4%. Anything past it does not count for anything unless you get a debuff reducing your chance to dodge/parry/block.

Diminishing returns occurs when you hit a certain percentage of a stat which is called a “soft cap.” At the soft cap and above each point of said stats will be worth less and less. At some point the return on a single point will be worth much less than using that point in another stat. This creates balance and helps to combat stat "stacking".

For the application of protection paladins, dodge and parry now suffer from the same diminishing returns so they are equal in terms of avoidance. If you have a choice put points into the lowest of the two, remembering though that strength also adds attack power and parry so it might make a better choice

For protection paladins this might surprise you but the soft cap against mastery is 10% dodge or Parry. Most of us will have more than this, but above 10% you can reforge dodge and parry into mastery and GAIN mitigation. You even out damage by getting to the 102.4% making it easier on everyone.

Actual percentage where mastery is better than parry. 10.139%
Actual percentage where mastery is better than dodge. 10.5182%

So the couple of questions you need to ask yourself for avoidance and mitigation. What are your current stats? Strength gives parry at the rate of 27% of strength over base level 85 strength.

Mastery<>Dodge/Parry<> Strength

Follow this weighting until block cap is reached.

How They All Unfold
In the end you still want the same three things, just now in a different order, look for block capping THEN worry about your threat stats.

Monday, July 11, 2011

ahhh... So many of my articles surround huntards. It's because I love to hate huntards. We all love to hate them. Their pets run amok, pulling critters that you didn't even know the dungeon held. They're given the option to need on practically every piece of gear, and they do. And feign death, ooooo, feign death. They've got that repair bill avoidance hack that they just milk the shit out of.

They're like the red-headed stepchild of all the wow classes. You almost want to lock them in a cupboard under the stairs.

As much as I would love to write another article slamming huntards, this article isn't going to be it. This one is about the people who unfailingly Hate huntards. Don't get me wrong! I totally understand the hating of huntards. They deserve it and have it coming to them.
But. There is occasionally, a time when a hunter does something normal, something that anyone else would do, and they are bitched at, simply because of their huntardness.
In particular, this is about loot, and the needing thereof.

Huntards are special, in that they can roll /need on pretty much anything. Except wands. I don't think they can need on wands. But I could be mistaken. Anyways, huntards can roll on pretty much everything. Most often, they do. Str/Stam/Spirit/Int/Dodge... whatever. They'll roll on /need on it, cause they can.They even come up with Awesome crackpot reasons why they "need" said item.

Like This Guy!

But the best crackpot reason ever? When they actually need it for an upgrade. And when it's actually a hunter item. /le gasp That.... happens?! Yes, people. It may be as rare as a wow geek* getting laid, but it does occasionally happen. And people who have become stuck in the "I hate huntards" vortex freak the fuck out.

The lol-guy. One ninja'd item away from going postal.

They're just shocked, shocked to their very core that a hunter dared to /need on something that they wanted as well. Hell, they'll freak out even when it's something they didn't want. Why? because people love to hate huntards.

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

I'm an achievement whore. I love the little noise it makes, I love the bright flash, the little square at the bottom center of my screen, I love that it announces to everyone nearby exactly how awesome I am. Hell, on my priest, I even worked my butt off for achievements that I wouldn't have gotten otherwise. (Just my priest... more than that would take Forever!) I'll harass my guildmates to pull together just so we can go kill some critter in a fabulous manner that's a complete pain in the ass.

What I don't do is harass pugs to attempt that same kill. Because it's a pug. They're innately totally incapable of that nonsense. It's in their blood and everything. (This is, of course, simply referring to your average pug. All you fuckers who get grouped with people who can talk, chew gum, and get out of the fire at the same time, I hate you.)

So this run I'm in the other day, some twit had already annoyed the hell outa me, bitching and moaning about some buff he wanted really, really bad, so he could pretend he was cool by being just a bit closer to the top of the dps meters. But I digress. We get to some boss, I don't even remember which one, and he's all "lets go fer duh achiev, guyz! Mage! Hit your time warp asap!"

Now, I already did my assessment of the group, and it just was not an achievement group. A couple people got hit by things, a couple people weren't where they needed to be, and nobody was freeking icing a single damned monster, and most of all, the dps wasn't where it needed to be(mine included, whatev) It just wasn't an achievement group. I told him no, and that we would be doing it regular... We start the fight, and he tries to get the achievement all by himself- by not contributing to what the group as a whole was doing. We finished the fight pretty well, if a little sloppily, and started to the next boss. The achievement whore then piped up with "we woulda had it if the mage had used time warp when I said".

Back to what I was ranting about- there are achievement groups, and there aren't. The chances of finding one in your guild, or even on your own server are infinitely better than finding one in a pug.